Isle of Man Walks
Slieau Freoaghane & Sartfell
Date: 8th October 2011
Distance: 3.4 miles
Ascent: 705 feet
Time: 1 hour 45 mins
With: On my own
Start Grid Ref: SC342866
Walk Summary:
This short walk on to Slieau Freoaghane was the first of three peak bagging trips I did on the same day.
Route Summary: Sartfell Plantation - Slieau Freoaghane - Sartfell - Sartfell Plantation
Pictures:
1. Looking across the head of the River Rhenass to a distant South Barrule
2. The cloud begins to lift off Slieau Dhoo
3. A cloud capped Snaefell
4. The sun breaks through the cloud over Beinn-y-Phott
5. Kirk Michael from just below Slieau Freoaghane
6. Slieau Freoaghane
7. The cloud still covered the top of Slieau Freoaghane
8. Sartfell
9. The top of Sartfell
10. Peel from Sartfell
11. Colden
Walk Detail: Due to the fairly poor weather thus far on our holiday and the fact that this was the only day for the remainder of our week that the forecast was fairly good I headed out to bag as much as I could by parking at various points along the mountain roads.
I’m sure purists wouldn’t find it an acceptable way of doing things but as I didn't know if I'd be returning to the island again in the future it was the only way I could visit all the tops I wanted to. It proved to be a most successful day especially as the low morning cloud finally lifted off Snaefell by the time I got to it.
It was due to the low early morning cloud that I decided to make Slieau Freoaghane the first walk on my itinerary for the day as it was also the lowest. Despite the fact that the cloud was still covering most of the tops I wasn't completely bereft of views, for example, there was a fine view of Kirk Michael from the saddle with Slieau Dhoo.
Frustratingly the cloud, though non-existent out to sea, kept rolling up the fellside and continued to cover the tops so I didn’t get to see anything from the summit of Slieau Freoaghane. By way of compensation I added Sartfell on to my route and was rewarded with some views from the latter, most notably towards Peel.
After a short descent from Sartfell I got back to the car I drove a few miles east along the before leaving the car again to bag Carraghan and Beinn-y-Phott.
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